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It’s Official: Sen. Brown (R., Mass.)

The Senate’s 41st Republican was sworn into office Thursday, a few minutes after 5 p.m.

Standing on the Senate floor, Scott Brown, the upstart Massachusetts Republican who won the right to succeed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, took the oath of office while holding two Bibles owned by his daughters. They couldn’t make it to the ceremony but “were both with me in spirit,” he said.

“Congratulations,” said Vice President Joe Biden, who administered the oath and heartily shook the new senator’s hand. A short while later, Brown hurried to the third floor of the Capitol to convene his first official press conference, where he thanked the people of Massachusetts for sending him to Washington. “I can’t promise I’ll be right in every vote I make. I’m sure I’ll make mistakes from time to time. But I will try to give them my level best every day,” he said.

In a room packed with reporters, Brown plunged right into the middle of debate on Capitol Hill.

President Barack Obama’s economic-stimulus package, he said, “didn’t create one new job.” The health-care bill, he said, needs to “go back to the drawing board.” What about allowing gays to serve openly in the military? “I want to speak with the generals in the field,” he said, adding it was important to do so before making up his mind.

And what about that pick-up truck that became a symbol of his upstart campaign? “Coming down next week,” he said.